Displaying items by tag: victoria miro

At first glance the painting appears to show a modern-day Madonna and Child. The Madonna, wearing jeans, is sitting on a sun-dappled floor while the baby – a girl, surely – nestles between her mother’s protective legs. All seems calm and serene, until you notice the woman’s body language. Her shoulders are tense, her torso slumped, and she is staring not at her child but blankly at the floor. If this is what motherhood looks like then it is clearly not for the faint-hearted.

"Ginny and Elizabeth" was painted in 1976 by the American artist Alice Neel and modeled by her daughter-in-law and baby granddaughter. At the time Neel started work on the piece, she was finally receiving public acclaim for her work after decades of obscurity.

After ten years, Frieze London continues to be a hit with patrons and dealers alike. A mix of established and fledgling galleries, Frieze attracted nearly 55,000 visitors during its five-day run. Major sales included Paul McCarthy’s White Snow Head (2012) for $1.3 million, Damien Hirst’s Destruction Dreamscape (2012) for $807,650, and Jenny Holzer’s installation Blast (2012) for $525,000. New to the fair, Stevenson Gallery was pleasantly surprised when The Outset/Frieze Art Fair Fund to Benefit the Tate Collection acquired Nicholas Hlobo’s Balindile I (2012).

Stefan Ratibor, Director of Gagosian, said, “We had a terrific fair. Both Frieze and Frieze Masters were quite brilliant.” Victoria Miro of Victoria Miro Gallery added, “I can only say positive things. We’ve had success with all our artists and the market has been surprisingly strong. The fair is truly contemporary with many cutting-edge pieces.”

This year marked the debut of Frieze Focus, a section of the fair devoted to galleries less than ten years old. Focus participant, Mihaela Luteo of Plan B said, “The positioning of Focus has been really very good in cultivating positive reactions. This section gives us the possibility of building our profile in the perfect context. We wanted to introduce artists that may not be so well known and have sold most of the work we brought with us.”

A decade after its debut, Frieze London remains at the forefront of the Contemporary art scene. Frieze's dedication to innovation, risk-taking, and new talent can be thanked for that.